Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 August 1900 — Great Difference In Cost. [ARTICLE]

Great Difference In Cost.

It is interesting to note the difference in cost of holding the late railroad elections in the different townships. Excluding the incidental expense, such as tickets, etc., and the publishing of the notice of election—thp latter being sl6 in each of the four townships —and we find that the average expense for each precinct iy Marion township was $38.60; in Carpenter $38.90; in Barkley $17.90; in Jordan, $18.75. There is but one precinct in Jordan, two in Barkley, three yin Carpenter and four in Marion. The work of the boards in each precinct was of course the same, except that a few more votes were polled in some than in others, yet the Carpenter and Marion boards were allowed more than twice as much as those of Jordan and Barkley. The hardest work connected with the duties of the boards was putting in the time, as there was but little actual labor connected with the counting of the vote and the returns were all complete by about 7:30 to 8 o’clock. The Carpenter and Marion township boards put in claims for two days services and were paid $3 to $4 each for the day, while the Barkley and Jordan boards—composed of farmers who often put in a full day’s hard work on the farm and do not consider that they have earned to exceed a dollar or a dollar and a half —only made a charge for one day’s services. In Marion township the boards were even fed their breakfast at publicjexpense—, and possibly had a banquet at night, as the cost of feeding the four boards of seven members each was $29.40. or a little more than a dollar for each member thereof. Before the election it was generally talked that the members of the election boards, or those favoring the tax at least, would serve free gratis, but we believe every man of them got in his bill for services and the inspectors, who all favored the tax, we understand, got in with pretty good sized ones. The commissioners should have cut all bills for the regular services to one day’s pay.